Last Four Spots Up For Grabs In EuroCup Women

Olesia Malashenko's Arras won the first leg on the road and have the upper hand in the tie with Dynamo-GUVD

This is one of the most important weeks of the season for the teams that are still alive in the EuroCup Women.

Elitzur Ramla would appear to have one foot in the last four after claiming a 78-54 first-leg victory over Gran Canaria last week.

The other three ties are well and truly up for grabs, especially the showdown between Sony Athinaikos and Mann Filter Zaragoza.

The game that was played at Zaragoza last week finished 53-53.

In their weekend game, defending EuroCup Women champions Athinaikos rolled to an 83-43 triumph over PAOK.

Iouliti Lymoura had 13 points and nine assists and her Athinaikos teammate, Marina Kress, also narrowly missed out on a double-double.

Belarus international Kress finished with 13 points and nine rebounds.

Mann Filter Zaragoza, meanwhile, lost their grip on third place in the Liga Femenina when they fell 63-57 at Soller Bon Dia.

Zaragoza had the lead going into the fourth quarter but were outscored 17-6 the rest of the way.

In the other EuroCup Women ties, Arras prevailed in the opening game of their clash with Dynamo-GUVD 76-67 in Russia and would also seem to have an excellent chance of progressing with this week's second leg on French soil.

However Nantes Rezé know they won't be able to rest for a second at Chevakata, who start their home leg down by 13 points.

Even Gran Canaria will believe anything is possible, especially if they can chip away at the 24-point deficit they face against Ramla and reduce the arrears to 10 or less by the fourth quarter